Maybe mobile ads should go inside the refrigerator

Way back in 2003 LG Electronics got press with its internet refrigerator: stylish design, flat-panel screen, tracking of groceries, LAN-link to the internet for recipes, etc. etc. Never took off. Seems the switching cost for consumers was too high, when the older ice boxes work just fine.

Reminds us of some of the stranger ad processes being proposed today, such as Blue-tooth ads on cell phones that ping the passer-by carrying the phone, ask them to switch on Bluetooth and then for permission to send the ad, and then, yes display the ad. You know. Complexity. Like those billboards in the U.S. that ask you to dial in to the radio. Or the QR response codes in Japan that ask consumers to snap photos of giant bar codes on buildings.

The test for marketers: Is your communication process easy? Advertising your message all breaks down to pull or push. Consumers pull you when they call or search on Google (one dial, or one click). You push consumers when you put an ad in the right format, in front of the right demo, with the right need, for a simple powerful impression.

But complexity confuses consumers. A good exercise for marketers it to mystery shop the response paths from your own advertising. Can consumers get from your Google campaign to your completed web form in a few clicks, or do they have to fill out 28 data input fields? Can consumers quickly call an intelligent TSR who can sign them up? Or do they have to spend 20 minutes navigating IVRs and answer questions and wait for call backs from field sales to make a purchase?

It's good to try new media formats -- we recommend it all the time. We think mobile and guerilla marketing media are brilliant. But we humbly note that the process of making impressions and enabling prospects to respond should be simple. Millions of consumers learned a huge new process recently -- how to get on the internet -- because as Thomas Friedman notes, the value of being able to connect with people in a new way greatly outweighed the pain of learning the PC. But unless you provide extraordinary value for consumers to learn to jump through new hoops, your advertising process should be simple -- or the response may be as cool as an internet refrigerator.